Driving assistance system

ABSTRACT

When finding the driver distracted from driving (such as looking aside), this system provides driving assistance that enhances his or her motivation to drive by encouraging him or her to drive actively and thereby increase his or her internal focus on driving. Examples of specific driving assistance include giving exemplary driving instructions to the driver, providing him or her with navigation to a road with features that would entertain him or her through driving, and improving sensitivity to any change in the vehicle&#39;s state responsive to driving operations. If dangerous driving is sensed while the driving assistance is being provided, driving control may be performed to increase the driver&#39;s tension.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority to Japanese Patent Application No.2016-004960 filed on Jan. 14, 2016, the entire disclosure of which ishereby incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND

The present disclosure relates to a driving assistance system. Recently,an increasing number of vehicles are equipped with various drivingassistance capabilities, examples of which include automatic lanekeeping control, automatic braking control, and adaptive auto-cruisecontrol that have already been installed in a lot of vehicles on themarket. For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No.H06-255519 discloses a driving assistance technique for relaxing thedriver's attention to the surrounding environment in order to relievehis or her tension. Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No.H07-069233 discloses a driving assistance technique for alleviating thedriver's muscle tone during driving with the intervention of a controlprogram.

Generally speaking, the driver should not do distracted driving (e.g.,looking aside or talking over the cellphone while driving his or hervehicle) because it is unbeneficial from the safety considerations.Thus, it is possible to draw such a distracted driver's attention withan alert. However, even if he or she is alerted to the fact, he or shemay still continue such distracted driving or may soon resume doing itafter having suspended it just temporarily. For this reason, there is anincreasing demand for some effective measure for discouraging suchdistracted driving.

SUMMARY

The present disclosure provides a driving assistance system forpreventing, or at least discouraging, such distracted driving.

Specifically, a driving assistance system according to the presentdisclosure includes:

a distracted driving sensing unit configured to determine whether or nota driver is distracted from driving; and

a driving assistance unit configured to provide, if the distracteddriving sensing unit has determined the driver to be distracted fromdriving, driving assistance that enhances his or her motivation to driveby encouraging him or her to drive actively and thereby increase his orher internal focus on driving.

If the driver is distracted from driving, this configuration providesdriving assistance that enhances his or her motivation to drive byencouraging him or her to drive actively and thereby increase his or herinternal focus on driving. This may prevent, or at least discourage, thedriver from doing distracted driving, and eventually helps him or herimprove his or her driving skills advantageously.

This basic idea of the present disclosure may be implemented as thefollowing exemplary embodiments:

In one exemplary embodiment, the driving assistance system furtherincludes:

a driver's condition detecting unit configured to detect the driver'scondition;

a vehicle operating state detecting unit configured to detect thedriver's vehicle operating state; and

an equipment operating state detecting unit configured to detect thedriver's operating state of onboard equipment irrelevant to his or hervehicle driving operations.

The distracted driving sensing unit uses, based on results of detectionobtained by the respective detecting units, the driver's degree of focuson driving and his or her degree of leeway in driving as parameters, and

determines the driver to be distracted from driving if his or her degreeof focus on driving is low, his or her degree of leeway in driving islow, and his or her degree of distraction from driving has increased.

According to this embodiment, the driver's condition may be determinedbased on his or her degree of focus on driving and his or her degree ofleeway in driving, and a determination may be made highly accurately,based on this decision, how much he or she is distracted from driving.This effectively prevents, or at least discourages, him or her fromdoing distracted driving.

In another exemplary embodiment, the driving assistance system furtherincludes

a classification unit configured to classify, based on results ofdetection obtained by the respective detecting units, the driver'scondition as any of a plurality of types using, as parameters, his orher degree of focus on driving and his or her degree of leeway indriving.

The classification unit classifies the driver's condition as:

a first type if his or her degree of focus on driving is low, his or herdegree of leeway in driving is low, and his or her degree of distractionfrom driving is high;

a second type if his or her degree of focus on driving is low and his orher degree of leeway in driving is high;

a third type if his or her degree of focus on driving is high, his orher degree of leeway in driving is low, and his or her degree ofexternal focus on driving has been increased by some external factors;or

a fourth type if his or her degree of focus on driving is high, his orher degree of leeway in driving is high, and his or her degree ofinternal focus on driving is high, and

if the classification unit classifies the driver's condition as thefirst type, the distracted driving sensing unit determines the driver tobe distracted from driving.

According to this embodiment, the driver's condition is classified asany of these four types by using, as parameters, his or her degree offocus on driving and his or her degree of leeway in driving, therebyhighly accurately determining that the driver is distracted fromdriving. This may effectively prevent, or at least discourage, him orher from doing distracted driving.

In still another exemplary embodiment, the driving assistance systemfurther includes

a degree of internal focus measuring unit configured to measure thedegree of internal focus of the driver who is driving actively;

a degree of external focus measuring unit configured to measure thedegree of external focus of the driver who is driving passively;

a degree of distraction measuring unit configured to measure thedriver's degree of distraction from driving operations; and

a degree of spare capacity measuring unit configured to measure thedegree of spare capacity indicating the driver's degree of loss offocus.

The classification unit classifies, based on results of detectionobtained by these four measuring units, the driver's condition as any ofthe various types.

According to this embodiment, the driver's condition may be classifiedhighly accurately as any of the four types by measuring the respectivedegrees of focus, the degree of distraction, and the degree of sparecapacity. This effectively prevents, or at least discourages, him or herfrom doing distracted driving.

In yet another exemplary embodiment, the classification unit classifiesthe driver's condition as any of the various types by regarding thedegree of internal focus and the degree of spare capacity as valuesindicating the driver's degree of leeway and also regarding the degreesof internal and external foci as values indicating the driver's degreesof focus.

According to this embodiment, the driver's condition may be classifiedhighly accurately as any of the four types by appropriately setting thedegrees of focus on driving and the degree of leeway.

In yet another exemplary embodiment, the driver's condition detectingunit includes an image capturing unit configured to capture an imagecovering at least the driver's face, and the vehicle operating statedetecting unit includes at least two sensors configured to detectrespective operating states of an accelerator pedal and a brake pedal.

According to this embodiment, the respective degrees of focus, thedegree of distraction, and the degree of spare capacity may be measuredhighly accurately by means of general electronic devices.

In yet another exemplary embodiment, the driving assistance includesgiving exemplary driving instructions to the driver.

This sufficiently enhances the driver's motivation to drive andeffectively improves his or her driving skills while preventing him orher from doing distracted driving.

In yet another exemplary embodiment, the driving assistance includesproviding the driver with navigation to a road with features that wouldentertain him or her through driving.

This sufficiently enhances the driver's motivation to drive and highlyeffectively prevents him or her from doing distracted driving.

In yet another exemplary embodiment, the driving assistance includesimproving sensitivity to any change in the vehicle's state responsive todriving operations.

This sufficiently enhances the driver's motivation to drive and highlyeffectively prevents, or at least discourages, him or her from doingdistracted driving.

In yet another exemplary embodiment, the driving assistance systemfurther includes: a dangerous driving sensing unit configured to sensedangerous driving; and a deterrence control unit configured to perform,if the dangerous driving sensing unit has sensed any dangerous drivingwhile the driving assistance is being provided, driving control toincrease the driver's tension.

This effectively prevents the driver from being motivated to drive toomuch to avoid doing dangerous driving.

In yet another exemplary embodiment, the driving system further includes

a loudspeaker configured to emit an engine sound inside the vehicle'scabin.

The deterrence control unit performs control to amplify the engine soundemitted from the loudspeaker.

This amplified engine sound makes the driver feel the vehicle running athigher speeds than the actual one, and prompts him or her to deceleratethe vehicle.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary control systemaccording to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a table summarizing the details of four different types ofdriver's condition.

FIG. 3 is a table summarizing how the driver's condition is determinedto be one of the four different types based on various parameters.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary procedure of controlaccording to an embodiment.

FIGS. 5-7 are a flowchart illustrating a detailed procedure of thedriver's condition determination step Q1 shown in FIG. 4.

FIG. 8 diagrammatically illustrates exemplary control for enhancing thedriver's motivation to drive according to an embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary procedure of control forstoring the features of a road that entertained the driver according toan embodiment.

FIG. 10 diagrammatically illustrates how the throttle characteristicsmay be changed according to an embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Exemplary embodiments will now be described in detail with reference tothe accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary control system according to anembodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, a controller (control unit) Uimplemented as a microcomputer receives signals from various sensors anddevices S1-S8 installed in a vehicle such as an automobile.Specifically, an acceleration sensor S1 is provided to detect thevehicle's accelerator position. A brake sensor S2 is provided to detecthow far the vehicle's brake pedal is depressed (hereinafter referred toas a “degree of depression of the brake pedal”). A steering sensor S3 isprovided to detect the steering angle. An interior camera S4 functioningas an image capture unit is provided to capture an image of the driver'sface. An exterior camera S5 is provided to monitor the situation outsideof the vehicle (e.g., the situation in front of his or her own vehicle,in particular). A radar S6 is provided to measure the distance to anobstacle in front of the vehicle, for example A navigation system S7 isprovided to get map information and information about the vehicle'scurrent location. A vehicle speed sensor S8 is provided to detect thespeed of the vehicle.

The controller U controls the various devices S11-S13 for the purpose ofproviding driving assistance to be described later. Specifically, ahead-up display S11 is provided in front of the driver's seat. Aloudspeaker S12, functioning as an alerting unit, is provided to emit asound inside the vehicle cabin. A throttle actuator S13 is provided toallow the driver to adjust the throttle characteristic (specifically,adjust the throttle opening with respect to the accelerator position).

To provide various types of driving assistance to be described later,the controller U includes a database (DB) D2. This database D2 isactually implemented as an externally connected storage device withlarge storage capacity. Specifically, the database D2 stores informationabout the features of a road that entertained the driver.

Next, it will be described with reference to FIG. 2 how to classify thedriver's condition as any of four types. First of all, the driver'sdegrees of focus on driving and his or her degree of leeway in drivingwill be described as a premise of this type classification.

The focus on driving may be represented, depending on the driver'sbehavioral pattern, by any of the four different degrees, which will behereinafter referred to as first, second, third, and fourth degrees,respectively, for convenience sake. Specifically, the first degreerepresents an external (passive) focus on driving, i.e., a situationwhere the driver is forced to perform driving operations against his orher will, and is less motivated to drive, due to some external factors.The second degree represents an internal (active) focus on driving,i.e., an ideal situation where the driver is driving his or her vehicleat his or her own will and is highly motivated to drive. The thirddegree represents the driver's distraction from driving (such asoperating the touchscreen of the navigation system or talking over hisor her cellphone). The fourth degree represents the driver's loss offocus (which is defined to be a redundancy that is an unused, reservedportion of his or her maximum focusing ability and will be hereinafterreferred to as a “spare capacity” in the following description anddrawings).

Supposing the sum of these four degrees of focus is 100%, the degree offocus on driving is the percentage accounted for by the sum of theexternal and internal foci, and the driver's degree of leeway in drivingis the percentage accounted for by the sum of the internal focus and thespare capacity.

The following first, second, third, and fourth types are defined as thefour types. Specifically, the driver's condition is classified as thefirst type if his or her degree of focus on driving is low and his orher degree of leeway in driving is low (particularly when the driver isdoing distracted driving (e.g., looking aside while driving his or hervehicle)). The driver's condition is classified as the second type ifhis or her degree of focus on driving is low and his or her degree ofleeway in driving is high (e.g., when his or her vehicle is self-drivingor when he or she is doing aimless driving). The driver's condition isclassified as the third type if his or her degree of focus on driving ishigh and his or her degree of leeway in driving is low. The driver inthis third type of condition is found tensed, for example, when thefollowing vehicle is running close behind his or her vehicle. Thedriver's condition is classified as the fourth type if his or her degreeof focus on driving is high and his or her degree of leeway in drivingis high. This is an ideal driving condition. If the driver is distractedfrom driving, his or her condition is classified as the first type.

FIG. 3 is a table summarizing how the driver's condition, including thedegrees of external and internal foci, the degree of distraction fromdriving, and the degree of spare capacity, is determined based onvarious parameters. Examples of such parameters include the driver'sphysical features extracted from the image captured by the interiorcamera S4 such as his or her facial expressions, eye direction, andpupil state and how the accelerator pedal (A pedal) and brake pedal (Bpedal) are operated. The driver's current condition is determined to beany of the four types based on these results of detection integratedtogether.

When determining the driver's condition to be the first type (i.e., whenfinding him or her distracted from driving), the controller U providesdriving assistance for him or her to increase his or her internal focusthrough the driving assistance. An exemplary procedure of control to beperformed by the controller U will be described with reference to theflowcharts of FIGS. 4 through 7. In the following description, thereference sign Q denotes a processing step.

First of all, in Q1 shown in FIG. 4, the controller U determines thedriver's condition as will be described later. In this processing stepQ1, the controller U determines which of the four types the driver'scurrent condition falls under. Next, in Q2, the controller U determineswhether or not the driver is distracted from driving, i.e., whether ornot the driver's current condition falls under the first type. If theanswer to the question of Q2 is NO, then no driving assistance is neededat this time, and the process goes back to Q1.

On the other hand, if the answer to the question of Q2 is YES, then thecontroller U provides, in the next processing step Q3, drivingassistance to increase the driver's internal focus on driving andthereby prevent him or her from doing distracted driving. Thisprocessing step Q3 will be described in detail later.

After having performed the processing step Q3, the controller Udetermines, in the next processing step Q4, whether or not the driver isdoing dangerous driving. In this embodiment, a decision is made in thisprocessing step Q4 that he or she is doing dangerous driving if theactual average vehicle speed per unit interval (or unit distance)detected by the vehicle speed sensor S8 is in excess of a legal speedlimit.

If the answer to the question of this processing step Q4 is NO, then theprocess returns with the next processing step Q5 skipped. On the otherhand, if the answer to the question of this processing step Q4 is YES,then the controller U performs deterrence control to increase thedriver's tension and thereby deter him or her from dangerous driving. Inthis embodiment, the controller U performs the deterrence control byamplifying an engine sound (which may be a fake engine sound) emittedfrom the loudspeaker S12 if the driver is doing dangerous driving. Thismakes him or her feel the vehicle running at higher speeds than thenormal one, even if the actual speed is as high as the normal one.

FIGS. 5-7 shows the details of the processing step Q1 shown in FIG. 4.Specifically, after data has been entered in Q11 shown in FIG. 5, thecontroller U determines in Q12 whether or not the driver's faceorientation has a significant offset (i.e., whether or not he or she islooking aside while driving). If the answer to the question of thisprocessing step Q12 is YES, then a predetermined number of points (e.g.,20 points) are added to a distracted driving score in Q13.

After the controller U has performed the processing step Q13 or if theanswer to the question of Q12 is NO, the controller U determines in Q14whether or not the driver is frequently performing operations other thanbasic driving operations (i.e., pumping the accelerator and brakepedals, turning the steering wheel, and other driving operations tochange the vehicle's behavior). More specifically, the controller Udetermines whether or not the frequency of occurrence of such operationsis equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold value. If theanswer to the question of this processing step Q14 is YES, then apredetermined number of points (e.g., 20 points) are added to thedistracted driving score in Q15.

After the controller U has performed the processing step Q15 or if theanswer to the question of Q14 is NO, the controller U determines in Q16whether or not the duration of those other operations performed by thedriver is significantly long compared to that of the basic drivingoperations. More specifically, the controller U determines whether ornot the duration is equal to or greater than a predetermined thresholdvalue. If the answer to the question of this processing step Q16 is YES,then a predetermined number of points (e.g., 20 points) are added to thedistracted driving score in Q17.

After the controller U has performed the processing step Q17 or if theanswer to the question of Q16 is NO, the controller U determines in Q18whether or not the driver's head turn is significant. More specifically,the controller U determines whether or not his or her head turn is equalto or greater than a predetermined threshold value. If the answer to thequestion of this processing step Q18 is YES, then a predetermined numberof points (e.g., 20 points) are added to a spare capacity score in Q19.

After the controller U has performed the processing step Q19 or if theanswer to the question of Q18 is NO, the controller U determines in Q20whether or not a significant delay has been caused by the driver inchanging the pedals to pump from the accelerator pedal to the brakepedal, and vice versa. More specifically, the controller U determineswhether or not the delay is equal to or greater than a predeterminedthreshold value. If the answer to the question of this processing stepQ20 is YES, then a predetermined number of points (e.g., 20 points) areadded to the spare capacity score in Q21.

After the controller U has performed the processing step Q21 or if theanswer to the question of Q20 is NO, the controller U determines in Q22whether or not the driver's eye movement velocity is low. Morespecifically, the controller U determines whether or not the eyemovement velocity is equal to or smaller than a predetermined thresholdvalue. If the answer to the question of this processing step Q22 is YES,then a predetermined number of points (e.g., 20 points) are added to aspare capacity score in Q23.

After the controller U has performed the processing step Q23 or if theanswer to the question of Q22 is NO, the controller U determines in Q31shown in FIG. 6 whether or not the degree of agreement between thedriver's face orientation and his or her eye direction is high. Morespecifically, the controller U determines whether or not the degree ofagreement falls within a predetermined threshold range. If the answer tothe question of this processing step Q31 is YES, then a predeterminednumber of points (e.g., 20 points) are added to an actively (internally)focused driving score in Q32.

After the controller U has performed the processing step Q32 or if theanswer to the question of Q31 is NO, the controller U determines in Q33whether or not the same accelerator position has been held for asignificant amount of time. More specifically, the controller Udetermines whether or not the amount of time is equal to or greater thana predetermined threshold value. If the answer to the question of thisprocessing step Q33 is YES, then a predetermined number of points (e.g.,20 points) are added to an actively (internally) focused driving scorein Q34.

After the controller U has performed the processing step Q34 or if theanswer to the question of Q33 is NO, the controller U determines in Q35whether or not the deviation (i.e., the standard deviation) in theamount of time it takes for the driver to change pedals to pump from theaccelerator pedal to the brake pedal, and vice versa, is insignificant.More specifically, the controller U determines whether or not thestandard deviation is equal to or smaller than a predetermined thresholdvalue. If the answer to the question of this processing step Q35 is YES,then a predetermined number of points (e.g., 20 points) are added to theactively (internally) focused driving score in Q36.

If the answer to the question of Q35 is NO, then a predetermined numberof points (e.g., 50 points) are added to passively (externally) focuseddriving score in Q37.

After having performed the processing step Q37, the controller Udetermines in Q41 shown in FIG. 7 whether or not the (total) distracteddriving score is greater than 0 points. If the answer to the question ofthis processing step Q41 is YES, then the controller U determines in Q42that the driver is doing distracted driving (e.g., looking aside whiledriving), i.e., the driver's current condition falls under the firsttype.

On the other hand, if the answer to the question of the processing stepQ41 is NO, then the controller U determines in Q43 whether or not the(total) spare capacity score is greater than the sum of the (total)passively focused driving score and the (total) actively focused drivingscore. If the answer to the question of this processing step Q43 is YES,then the controller U determines in Q44 that the driver is doing aimlessdriving, i.e., the driver's current condition falls under the secondtype.

On the other hand, if the answer to the question of the processing stepQ43 is NO, then the controller U determines in Q45 whether or not the(total) actively focused driving score is greater than the (total)passively focused driving score. If the answer to the question of thisprocessing step Q45 is YES, then the controller U determines in Q46 thatthe driver is in an ideal condition, i.e., the driver's currentcondition falls under the fourth type. On the other hand, if the answerto the question of this processing step Q45 is NO, then the controller Udetermines in Q47 that the driver is in a tense condition, i.e., thedriver's current condition falls under the third type.

Next, an exemplary technique for increasing the driver's internal focuson driving in Q3 shown in FIG. 4 will be described with reference toFIGS. 8-10. Specifically, FIG. 8 illustrates an embodiment in whichexemplary driving instructions are displayed on the screen to thedriver. For example, while the driver is making cornering, not only anaccelerating region and a decelerating region (in two different colors,for example) but also a steering point indicating a steering starttiming (in a flickering state, for example) may be highlighted on theroad image displayed. This enhances the driver's motivation to drive andimproves his or her driving skills. Although an exemplary corneringtechnique is illustrated in FIG. 8, any other appropriate set ofexemplary driving instructions may also be displayed as an ideal exampleto follow, which may be a set of exemplary driving operations to performon a highway or a set of exemplary parking operations, depending on thereal-time situation on the road. Among other things, it is particularlybeneficial to display a steering timing and timings to depress theaccelerator and brake pedals as examples to follow. Optionally, thedriver may be notified of these timings through audio guidance.

FIG. 9 shows an exemplary procedure of control to be performed toprovide the driver with navigation to a road with features that wouldentertain him or her. Specifically, in Q61, the controller U estimatesthe driver's emotions based on his or her facial expressions captured bythe interior camera S4, for example. Next, in Q62, the controller Udetermines, based on the results of estimation obtained in Q61, whetheror not the driver is enjoying driving, i.e., entertained by the featuresof the road. If the answer to the question of this processing step Q62is YES, the features of the road entertaining him or her are stored inthe database D2. On the other hand, if the answer to the question of theprocessing step Q62 is NO, then the process returns with the processingstep Q63 skipped. Then, in the processing step Q3 shown in FIG. 4, thecontroller U selects, from among a plurality of roads running in almostthe same direction as the road currently taken, a road having thefeatures stored in the database D2, and provides the driver withnavigation to this selected road (e.g., by providing guidance on anavigation screen image).

FIG. 10 illustrates an exemplary technique for enhancing the driver'smotivation to drive by increasing the sensitivity of an engine output toaccelerating operations. In FIG. 10, the solid line represents a normal(ordinary) throttle characteristic. The broken curve represents athrottle characteristic with increased sensitivity (i.e., acharacteristic that the throttle opening increases more significantlywith respect to the same accelerator position than in the normalthrottle characteristic). The one-dot-chain curve represents a throttlecharacteristic with decreased sensitivity (i.e., a characteristic thatthe throttle opening decreases more significantly with respect to thesame accelerator position than in the normal throttle characteristic).In Q3 shown in FIG. 4, the throttle characteristic with the increasedsensitivity as indicated by the broken curve in FIG. 10 is selected, andthe throttle actuator S15 is controlled in accordance with this selectedthrottle characteristic. Optionally, any two or all three of the controlprocedures shown in FIGS. 8-10 may be performed in combination.

Although some embodiments of the present disclosure have been described,they are just non-limiting exemplary embodiments of the presentdisclosure. Thus, those exemplary embodiments may be readily modifiedappropriately without departing from the scope of the present disclosuredefined by the appended claims For example, the conditions for providingthe driving assistance to increase the driver's internal focus ondriving in Q3 shown in FIG. 4 may be any one condition or two selectedfrom the group consisting of: whether the driver's physical condition isgood or bad, whether or not there is any traffic jam, and whether or notthe driver's driving skills are high. Alternatively, the drivingassistance may also be provided under any other condition. A specifictechnique for providing the driving assistance to increase the driver'sinternal focus on driving may be not only any of the ones described inthe foregoing description of embodiments but also any other appropriateone such as increasing the sensitivity of the steering wheel, outputtingan amplified engine sound in Q3 shown in FIG. 4, or reducing theoperation reaction forces of the accelerator and brake pedals and thesteering wheel.

Furthermore, the parameters used to classify the driver's condition asany of the four types shown in FIG. 2 may be only some of the ones shownin FIG. 3 or may further include any other appropriate parameter such asa one indicating a steering operation state. The deterrence control inthe processing step Q5 shown in FIG. 4 does not have to be performedwith the engine sound amplified but may also be performed with thesuspension characteristics changed. For example, while the driver isdoing dangerous driving that would cause oversteer, the suspensionstiffness determined by the suspension dampers of the respective wheelsmay be changed and controlled such that the vehicle body will tiltinward with respect to the centerline of a curve, thereby prompting thedriver to turn the steering wheel back spontaneously. Alternatively, atthe time of occurrence of oversteer, the steering angle may be changedinto a larger one than in the normal state such that more significantoversteer will be generated intentionally than the one to be generatedat the actual steering angle. This greater oversteer than the expectedone also prompts the driver to turn the steering wheel backspontaneously. Naturally, any other type of deterrence control may alsobe adopted. For example, the operation reaction force of the acceleratoror brake pedal or the steering wheel may be set to be smaller than theordinary one. Furthermore, each of the processing steps or each seriesof processing steps shown in the flowcharts represents any of thefunctions of the controller U. Thus, any of these functions may also beembodied as a hardware component that forms part of the controller U ifthe step or the series of steps is implemented as a means or section forperforming its/their intended function. Naturally, objects of thepresent disclosure include not only the explicitly specified ones butalso others that are implicitly suggested herein as advantages orbenefits of the present disclosure.

What is claimed is:
 1. A driving assistance system comprising: adistracted driving sensing unit configured to determine whether or not adriver is distracted from driving; and a driving assistance unitconfigured to provide, if the distracted driving sensing unit hasdetermined the driver to be distracted from driving, driving assistancethat enhances his or her motivation to drive by encouraging him or herto drive actively and thereby increase his or her internal focus ondriving.
 2. The driving assistance system of claim 1, furthercomprising: a driver's condition detecting unit configured to detect thedriver's condition; a vehicle operating state detecting unit configuredto detect the driver's vehicle operating state; and an equipmentoperating state detecting unit configured to detect the driver'soperating state of onboard equipment irrelevant to his or her vehicledriving operations, wherein the distracted driving sensing unit uses,based on results of detection obtained by the respective detectingunits, the driver's degree of focus on driving and his or her degree ofleeway in driving as parameters, and determines the driver to bedistracted from driving if his or her degree of focus on driving is low,his or her degree of leeway in driving is low, and his or her degree ofdistraction from driving has increased.
 3. The driving assistance systemof claim 2, further comprising a classification unit configured toclassify, based on results of detection obtained by the respectivedetecting units, the driver's condition as any of a plurality of typesusing, as parameters, his or her degree of focus on driving and his orher degree of leeway in driving, wherein the classification unitclassifies the driver's condition as: a first type if his or her degreeof focus on driving is low, his or her degree of leeway in driving islow, and his or her degree of distraction from driving is high; a secondtype if his or her degree of focus on driving is low and his or herdegree of leeway in driving is high; a third type if his or her degreeof focus on driving is high, his or her degree of leeway in driving islow, and his or her degree of external focus on driving has beenincreased by some external factors; or a fourth type if his or herdegree of focus on driving is high, his or her degree of leeway indriving is high, and his or her degree of internal focus on driving ishigh, and if the classification unit classifies the driver's conditionas the first type, the distracted driving sensing unit determines thedriver to be distracted from driving.
 4. The driving assistance systemof claim 3, further comprising: a degree of internal focus measuringunit configured to measure the degree of internal focus of the driverwho is driving actively; a degree of external focus measuring unitconfigured to measure the degree of external focus of the driver who isdriving passively; a degree of distraction measuring unit configured tomeasure the driver's degree of distraction from driving operations; anda degree of spare capacity measuring unit configured to measure thedegree of spare capacity indicating the driver's degree of loss offocus, wherein the classification unit classifies, based on results ofdetection obtained by these four measuring units, the driver's conditionas any of the various types.
 5. The driving assistance system of claim4, wherein the classification unit classifies the driver's condition asany of the various types by regarding the degree of internal focus andthe degree of spare capacity as values indicating the driver's degree ofleeway and also regarding the degrees of internal and external foci asvalues indicating the driver's degrees of focus.
 6. The drivingassistance system of claim 2, wherein the driver's condition detectingunit includes an image capturing unit configured to capture an imagecovering at least the driver's face, and the vehicle operating statedetecting unit includes at least two sensors configured to detectrespective operating states of an accelerator pedal and a brake pedal.7. The driving assistance system of claim 1, wherein the drivingassistance includes giving exemplary driving instructions to the driver.8. The driving assistance system of claim 1, wherein the drivingassistance includes providing the driver with navigation to a road withfeatures that would entertain him or her through driving.
 9. The drivingassistance system of claim 1, wherein the driving assistance includesimproving sensitivity to any change in the vehicle's state responsive todriving operations.
 10. The driving assistance system of claim 1,further comprising: a dangerous driving sensing unit configured to sensedangerous driving; and a deterrence control unit configured to perform,if the dangerous driving sensing unit has sensed any dangerous drivingwhile the driving assistance is being provided, driving control toincrease the driver's tension.
 11. The driving assistance system ofclaim 1, further comprising: a loudspeaker configured to emit an enginesound inside the vehicle's cabin, wherein the deterrence control unitperforms control to amplify the engine sound emitted from theloudspeaker.
 12. A driving assistance system comprising: a distracteddriving sensing unit configured to determine whether or not a driver isdistracted from driving; a driving assistance unit configured toprovide, if the distracted driving sensing unit has determined thedriver to be distracted from driving, driving assistance that enhanceshis or her motivation to drive by encouraging him or her to driveactively and thereby increase his or her internal focus on driving; adriver's condition detecting unit configured to detect the driver'scondition; a vehicle operating state detecting unit configured to detectthe driver's vehicle operating state; an equipment operating statedetecting unit configured to detect the driver's operating state ofonboard equipment irrelevant to his or her vehicle driving operations; adangerous driving sensing unit configured to sense dangerous driving;and a deterrence control unit configured to perform, if the dangerousdriving sensing unit has sensed any dangerous driving while the drivingassistance is being provided, driving control to increase the driver'stension, wherein the distracted driving sensing unit uses, based onresults of detection obtained by the respective detecting units, thedriver's degree of focus on driving and his or her degree of leeway indriving as parameters, and determines the driver to be distracted fromdriving if his or her degree of focus on driving is low, his or herdegree of leeway in driving is low, and his or her degree of distractionfrom driving has increased.
 13. The driving assistance system of claim12, wherein the driving assistance includes giving exemplary drivinginstructions to the driver.
 14. The driving assistance system of claim12, wherein the driving assistance includes providing the driver withnavigation to a road with features that would entertain him or herthrough driving.
 15. The driving assistance system of claim 12, whereinthe driving assistance includes improving sensitivity to any change inthe vehicle's state responsive to driving operations.
 16. A drivingassistance system comprising: a distracted driving sensing unitconfigured to determine whether or not a driver is distracted fromdriving; a driving assistance unit configured to provide, if thedistracted driving sensing unit has determined the driver to bedistracted from driving, driving assistance that enhances his or hermotivation to drive by encouraging him or her to drive actively andthereby increase his or her internal focus on driving; a dangerousdriving sensing unit configured to sense dangerous driving; a deterrencecontrol unit configured to perform, if the dangerous driving sensingunit has sensed any dangerous driving while the driving assistance isbeing provided, driving control to increase the driver's tension; and aloudspeaker configured to emit an engine sound inside the vehicle'scabin, wherein the deterrence control unit performs control to amplifythe engine sound emitted from the loudspeaker.
 17. The drivingassistance system of claim 16, wherein the driving assistance includesgiving exemplary driving instructions to the driver.
 18. The drivingassistance system of claim 16, wherein the driving assistance includesproviding the driver with navigation to a road with features that wouldentertain him or her through driving.
 19. The driving assistance systemof claim 16, wherein the driving assistance includes improvingsensitivity to any change in the vehicle's state responsive to drivingoperations.